


Episode 7: Invasion!

by Kako_Pumpkin



Series: Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Rewrite [7]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alien Invasion, Alternate Canon, Canon Rewrite, Earth-1, Earth-38, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 01:16:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12048288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kako_Pumpkin/pseuds/Kako_Pumpkin
Summary: When aliens attack, heroes will rise up to defend Earth! Can the teams from Central City, Star City, National City, and the Waverider defeat the Dominators before their terrible plan is enacted, and Earth-1 is lost?(Episode 7 of a full 22-episode rewrite of season 2 - the same broad story arc, but rewritten episodes).Now featuring added J'onn, Winn, and Alex!





	1. Chapter 1

 

**INTRO SEQUENCE**

**Narration [Stein]:** Time travel is real, and all of history is vulnerable to attack, which is why we must travel through time to keep anyone from damaging it. We are a team of outcasts and misfits. So please don’t call us heroes, we’re legends

 

**FLASHBACK TO PREVIOUS CROSSOVER EPISODES**

**Scene:** After getting back from the Dominator’s ship, Oliver, Digg, Sara and Ray head back to the hall to meet up with the rest of the team, when they’re met with a few new faces – Winn, Alex, and – to their consternation – J’onn, in full martian form. Cisco and Felicity bashfully wave, torn between grinning with excitement and slinking away at Oliver’s flat look. Lisa is there too - she still hasn’t left since the last episode, and she’s smirking hard.

“Okay. We can explain,” says Felicity quickly. 

Cisco jumps in. “We just thought - with everything going on, the more hands we’ve got helping with an alien invasion, the better, right?”

“Right!” Felicity says. “And since Kara is so very awesome, everyone she knows must be pretty awesome too……..?”

Oliver doesn’t speak; he just briefly closes his eyes and decides not to deal with it. He walks right past Felicity and Cisco - who look utterly relieved he didn’t say anything to them - and he goes to Barry and a few others. Digg goes to follow him, but pauses momentarily in front of the fully-Martian J’onn. They both eye each other up, not unfriendly. Digg tilts his head.

“John Diggle,” he says. J’onn tilts his head in return.

“J’onn J’onzz,” he replies. Winn lights up.

“Oh hey, two Johns!” he exclaims. “We’ll have to get like, a nickname…or…something…” He trails off as they both just look at him. “Yeah…okay…I’m just gonna go stand by the science people now.” 

Lisa pats Cisco’s shoulder. “Hmm, I think alien invasions are my cue to beat it, sweetie…still on for movie night?”

Cisco looks disappointed, but grins at her sultry smile. “Assuming there’s still going to be a Friday...you bet.”

She winks and saunters out of the hall. As she’s walking, she and Mick share a solemn nod, and then she disappears through the doors. Cisco turns, sighing happily, to see Winn and Felicity giving him thumbs ups, thoroughly impressed. He grins - and then they all scurry as Oliver pointedly clears his throat.

Everyone gathers by the monitors, with Oliver at the de facto head of the gathering.

“Do we have any new information about the Dominators?” he asks, and Alex steps forward, her back straight and her arms clasped behind her back. We see Kara give her sister a small, proud smile, because professional Alex is really badass.

“Actually - yes,” she says.

“And you are?” asks Oliver, and Alex lifts her chin.

“I’m Alex Danvers, Kara’s sister,” she says, and then she nods her head to J’onn and Winn in turn. “This is J’onn J’onnz and Winn Schott, we work with the DEO on our Earth.”

“And what’s the DEO?” says Oliver, and J’onn speaks up.

“You could call us alien specialists,” he says, eyebrow raising and a small smile on his face as he shifts into human form. Everyone’s expressions vary between ‘holy crap this is so awesome I think I might faint’ (Felicity and Cisco), to ‘whoa!’ (the majority), and ‘why me’ (Oliver and Digg - Digg just pinches the bridge of his nose and looks to be restraining a sigh). Kara just grins as J’onn continues.

“The Dominators are warmongering species,” he says. “They have scientifically altered themselves to be stronger, more resilient and efficient. They possess increased strength, durability, and telepathy.” 

Alex adds: “Not many alien races have developed telepathy naturally. They’re one of the few that’ve discovered a means of altering themselves scientifically to develop an artificial hivemind using nanotechnology.”

“Which they then used to coordinate planet-wide attacks,” finishes Winn. “Not nice.”

Digg snorts loudly.

“Aren’t there any _peaceful_ aliens?” he says. “It’s always an invasion!”

Kara grimaces, and J’onn just inclines his head. Barry, somehow sensing a potential argument, verbally steps in. 

“Um, you know, technically speaking we’re _all_ aliens,” he says, but  comes up short when everyone stares at him, and he reddens. “Well - you know - we are.” 

Seamlessly, J’onn continues. “The Dominators are known for making a two-pronged attack - first, they try to encourage in-fighting amongst the planet’s inhabitants by blaming the invasion on something one party did -”

“That’s why they kidnapped us,” interrupts Sara, frowning.

“It was intel gathering,” says Alex. “The Dominators use nanotech to trawl your mind for relevant information. That way they know what buttons to press. And while the planet’s defenders are in-fighting -”

“They swoop in,” says Felicity, grimacing.

“Wait, earlier you said they had telepathy,” Oliver. “That not many beings develop it naturally…?” He leaves the question hanging in the air. J’onn straightens his shoulders.

“There _are_ aliens with natural telepathic abilities,” he says. “Martians, for example.”

“I’m assuming you’re a Martian?” says Digg, not really sure if he wants the answer - his eyes go to heaven when J’onn nods at him. “Little green men, huh? Not so little.”

“Well, traditionally speaking, ‘little’ is more like a figure of speech,” says Barry. He visibly decides to shut up when Digg and Oliver slide him a Look.

“J’onn,” continues Oliver. “If you have telepathy, then couldn’t you use that somehow to stop the Dominators?”

J’onn’s face tightens, and Kara, Alex, and Winn glance at him worriedly.

“Telepathic attacks were used against my people by the White Martians as a means of torturing us, before they wiped us out,” he says, sharply. “Telepathy is a gift. It should never be abused in such a way.”

Sensing a rise in tension, Felicity interjects. “Uh - so wait, what do these Dominators even _want_ from us?”

“That’s the second part of their attack - their target is always resources,” says Alex, one eye on J’onn. “They destroy the living beings and then ravage the planet. Due to extensive mining and abuse, their planet is barren and near-collapse.”

Kara looks confused for a moment. “Wait – if they’re so violent, then why haven’t they tried to invade our earth?”

“Likely because they’re on Oa’s watchlist,” says J’onn. “They wouldn’t get within a million lightyears of any inhabited world. I’m surprised they managed to get this far – perhaps this sector doesn’t have a guardian yet...”

Barry slightly raises his hand, like he’s in class. “Wh – wait, what’s Oa?”

Oliver interrupts. “Moving on, how do we defeat them?”

“Yeah,” adds Cisco. “And has anyone else realised this is literally the plot to Independence Day? Like both of them.”

Felicity jumps in. “Ooh! And with a hint of Transformers!”

Winn winces. “ _Man_ I hope this doesn’t turn out like the sequels.”

Felicity grimaces. “Oh no, they were bad in your world too?”

“ _Oh_ yeah…” says Winn, and the trio look very sad.

“Guys,” says Oliver. “Let’s keep on track.”

Cisco slaps his hands together, drawing everyone’s attention.

“I have an idea,” he announces. “You guys kept mentioning nano-tech - telepathy -”

“.....yeah?” says Felicity, and Cisco starts waving his hands around, gesticulating as his thought process starts to come together.

“If the Dominators are artificially linked, then I can _\- theoretically_ \- develop a device that can access whatever channels they’re on -”

“- giving them the mother of all migraines until they’ve got no choice but to leave Earth forever!” exclaims Winn, and Cisco points at him, very approvingly.

“Oh! Also!” Felicity adds. “If they’re not used to feeling pain or anything since they’ve modded themselves, it’ll probably be even _more_ effective!”

Cisco is grinning, but Winn pauses.

“Okay, wait,” says Winn. “That _is_ genius – but there’s one problem. Wouldn’t we need a live Dominator to scan the brain waves and get a sample from? Seems like those would be in short supply.”

“Yeah, they’re not exactly running around topsoil,” says Felicity, but Digg snaps his fingers.

“No - but they _were,”_ he says. “Back in 1951. Oregon. Lyla showed you that video, right?” He directs that towards Barry and Cisco, and they nod. Winn just looks confused.

“Okay…” he says. “But how are we supposed to get a live Dominator from like, sixty years in the past?”

There’s a pause and Felicity blinks.

“Oh – did we not mention we have time travel?” she says, and Winn stares. “Oh. Yeah, we have time travel.”

“We have a time _ship,”_ clarifies Sara smugly. Winn opens his mouth to answer, but all that comes out is an intense, high pitched noise.

“We also have a date the Dominators were last seen on Earth, thanks to Lyla,” adds Digg, and he catches eyes with Oliver, who nods and steps forward.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” he says. “One team will go back in time to capture a Dominator, and the rest of us will keep a hold of the situation here.”

Cisco, Felicity and Winn immediately volunteer. Kara and J’onn want to volunteer as well, and as everyone begins to talk amongst themselves and plan, Oliver asks to speak to them privately.

“What is it?” asks Kara, concerned. Oliver pauses, visibly collecting his thoughts.

“I...would like for you both to keep a low profile for the moment,” he says. Their faces grow confused, and he pushes on. “I just feel like this situation is spiralling - everything is getting too insane. I just want to claw back a sense of normalcy.”

Kara is not pleased. “...seriously?”

“With respect, Green Arrow…” says J’onn, polite but firm. “From experience I’ve found that normalcy depends on two critical elements; flexibility, and context.”

“Meaning?” says Oliver.

“Meaning that when the world throws you something unexpected – you throw the unexpected right back at it,” replies J’onn. “We came here to help, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Oliver examines both Kara and J’onn, considering J’onn’s words. Finally, he seems to come to a conclusion, and he sighs, crossing his arms. “All right,” he says. “I suppose it doesn’t make much sense to keep you off the field.”

“No,” agrees J’onn, and he turns to Kara. “That being said, it also wouldn’t make much sense to hoard our forces. Kara, I’m going to ask you to stay behind.”

“What!” exclaims Kara. “But -!”

“Hear me out, please,” says J’onn. “I’ll go on the mission to the past, along with Alex. We’ve been trained for years in infiltration and extraction, Kara, and this is a search and capture situation involving a hostile alien. Your skills are best suited towards helping the others prepare for the oncoming threats. Now, I can’t make you stay. But I’m asking.”

Kara isn’t happy about this, but she eventually nods in acceptance.

“Alright,” she says, frowning. “But -” and she turns to Oliver. “I just want to say this. I’m sorry that you’re uncomfortable, Oliver. But I’ve spent my life hiding who I was and pretending to be something I’m not, just so other people would feel safe and accept me. I’m _done_ with that part of my life. I won’t stop being myself just because someone else finds that intimidating. Understand?”

Oliver holds her gaze, just as serious as she is. “I understand.”

Kara steps back, nodding, and Oliver addresses the whole room.

“Alright!” he calls out, and everyone hushes. “A team will go back in time to capture a Dominator. J’onn has nominated himself and Alex. Felicity, Cisco and Winn - you’ll go as tech support.”

“Mick and Amaya can go from our end,” says Sara. “Infiltration and extraction should be within their skillset, right guys?”

There’s no protest from anyone - if anything, the atmosphere is excited. The science trio huddle together and Alex and Kara share a smile as Alex pats her sister’s shoulder. As they’re suiting up, a call comes in - it’s the president. And she wants to meet.

 

**Scene:** On the Waverider, Cisco, Felicity and Winn are equally ecstatic to be in an actual time ship. J’onn follows with Mick, Amaya, and Alex – Sara, Ray, Jax and Stein have volunteered to stay behind and work on the preliminaries to Cisco’s nano tech idea as well as babysit HQ. Felicity and Cisco get excited and start quoting:

“This ship is…”

“Automatic.”

“Supersonic.”

“Hypnotic –”

“Funky fresh!!!” exclaims Winn excitedly. “Omigosh, you guys have that song too!!”

Mick, looking very hard done by, just pushes past them, followed by J’onn, Amaya and Alex, who raises a cautionary eyebrow at Winn – but really, she’s just amused.

 

**Scene:** [Note: this scene follows almost exactly the same as in canon, so no dialogue is included, barring an added explanation of why Ray isn’t helping with a nanotech related problem.] Stein is at Star Labs, feverishly working on calculations on a dry board. Caitlin walks in, checking in on him, but finds she has to repeat herself a few times before he notices. She just smiles as he apologises.

“It’s fine,” she says. “You’re clearly busy. Where are Ray and Jax? I thought they might have come along.”

Stein replies distractedly, still focussed on his calculations. “Oh, someone had to stay behind to keep an eye on the communications, and to wait for the Waverider’s return. I’m just happy for the peace and quiet, truth be told…”

Caitlin approaches him, glancing over his math. “Isn’t Ray an expert in nanotech?”

“Certainly,” replies Stein. “However, the nanotechnological aspects aren’t necessarily the issue - it’s the problem of getting the nanotech to do _exactly_ what we want. Since this moves a bit outside Mr Palmer’s remit, he decided to focus on his suit and leave the calculations to me.”

“Ah,” said Caitlin, nodding in understanding. She pauses. “...too bad we couldn’t just...you know...pull in _another_ expert who could help…”

“Yes, well,” says Stein. “Unfortunately, we don’t -”

He pauses as Caitlin gives a little half-laugh. “Um, Professor? Yes, we do…”

“Hey, Dad!”

Stein freezes, slowly turning to see his daughter, Lily, cheerfully standing in the doorway. He can only stare as she greets him cheerfully, used to his idiosyncrasies, and immediately goes to the calculations. Stein tries to hedge and push her away a little, claiming that it’s top secret. Lily knows that it’s got to do with nanotech, and reveals herself as being an expert. Caitlin seems confused not only by his demeanour but also that Stein doesn’t appear to remember this. Stein can only stand by, let Lily help, and try to hide his discomfort. Caitlin, however, isn’t fooled…

 

**Scene:** The Waverider sets down in Redmond, Oregon, 1951, immediately cloaking. As they settle, inside the Waverider, Felicity just about manages to get her seatbelt off before she’s violently ill, mangling her words afterwards. Amaya seems sympathetic and explains about time sickness, but Mick, in the captain’s chair, just sighs.

“Alright, you two –” He points to Cisco and Winn. “Clean it up. We have an alien to kidnap.”

Cisco slowly stands. “Hey now – I know that we did not travel in a time ship just to end up staying put!”

Mick just raises his eyebrows. “Ponytail. You and your buddies are staying on the ship.”

They all move to protest, but Alex says that staying on the ship might not be a bad idea since a smaller group will get less attention and the three don’t have serious combat experience. They begrudgingly accept this as the other four – Mick, Amaya, Alex, and J’onn - get moving.

 

**Scene:** The group of four are walking towards the site where the Dominators were due to appear. Alex tries to make conversation with Mick.

“So…” she starts. “Do you have any powers?”

“I set stuff on fire,” he grunts. Alex just nods, awkwardly.

“Cool, cool…” she replies. “Like, with your mind, or..?”

“I have a gun.”

“Ah. Awesome. I also, have, a gun,” she says. “Well, two. And martial arts. Uh.” She stops as Mick looks at her slowly.

“You go against all these crazies and aliens with just a gun and your muscles?” he says. Alex blinks.

“Um…yes?”

Mick considers this. “That’s pretty badass,” he says, pulling forward. Alex isn’t sure if she should be pleased, but she is. Behind them, Amaya and J’onn are slightly smiling and shaking their heads as they follow. Gunshots start to sound out, and the team approaches the battle site. A Dominator warship is raining hell down on a helpless contingent, Dominators on the ground easily dispatching them. The carnage is terrible. The team look for an opening, but Mick just says to wait until they’re finished and pick up a weak one. They see the sense in that – although Amaya remarks that she doubts there is a weak one. Still, it pains the others to wait as good soldiers are being slaughtered in such a one-sided battle…

 

**Scene:** Back in the Waverider, Cisco, Winn and Felicity are lounging around. They’re depressed; Cisco is laying on a table, Winn is half on and half off a chair, and Felicity is spinning around on a wheelie chair.

“So - _bored!”_ exclaims Cisco, kicking off the table. “I know I did not escape 2016 to end up benched!”

“‘Escape’ 2016?” says  Felicity, looking up. “Why would you be trying to ‘escape’ 2016?”

Cisco frowns, turning away. “It’s a figure of speech, Felicity.”

Felicity sits up, frowning at him, before following him over to where he’s messing with the papers left strewn over the table.

“I don’t think it is,” she says. “I think you meant exactly what you said.”

“Well, what about it?” snaps Cisco.

“I think you only came along to escape _Barry,_ ” she says.

“And so what if I _am,_ huh?” Cisco rounds on her, eyes angry and shoulders up. “So sue me if I wanna avoid the guy who _killed_ my _brother!”_

Felicity’s eyes close briefly and she grimaces. “He didn’t _kill_ Dante, Cisco…”

“Okay, no, Barry didn’t _literally_ kill my brother,” says Cisco. “But still - when Barry tried to save his own family it ended up _destroying_ mine. Forever.”

There’s a silence after this revelation, Felicity looking chagrined and Cisco face turned away, until Winn breaks it, awkwardly.

“I’m – sorry…” he says, sitting up in his chair. “You – you lost a brother?” Cisco just nods, and Winn grimaces. “Dude. I’m so sorry. And Barry…he can go back in time? And he went back in time and –”

Cisco just waves away the words tiredly. “Yeah, it’s – it’s complicated, dude –”

“No, no – that’s – I get it. That – it’s complicated –” Winn stops talking as Cisco just wanders away, upset. Winn and Felicity share a wince. Cisco starts to talk again.

“Fighting aliens, man…it was stuff I dreamed about when I was a kid…”

Felicity and Winn give little laughs and agree. But Cisco isn’t cheered up; if anything, the conversation weighs on him even more. “But…this isn’t a dream. It feels…weird.”

Felicity steps forward, rubbing his shoulder. “Well – it is weird. Which is why we need our _friends.”_

“Look, man, family is complicated,” Winn adds. “I know I can’t imagine what it’s like in your position. But friends like Barry…they don’t come along very often. They’re people you can rely on.”

But Cisco just shakes his head. “And I wish I could…but he’s not my friend. My brother…my brother died for _nothing,_ you guys. I can’t just wish that away…”

Felicity and Winn share a sad, worried look as Cisco wanders away…

 

**Scene:** Back at the battlefield, Dominators are dragging unconscious soldiers away, pulling them over debris and other bodies. One by one they’re transported back into the mothership. The team are still waiting, hidden in the bushes on the outskirts, waiting for their moment. A straggler is soon identified, and Mick starts forward, tightening his gloves, a smile spreading across his face. J’onn starts forward as well.

“I’ll assist you –”

Mick stops him, shaking his head, a dark smile still on his face. “Oh no,” he says. “This is the best part.”

J’onn frowns. “The Dominators are an extremely hardy race. Even in a weakened state –”

Amaya interrupts. “Trust me, J’onn – just let him go. He knows what he’s doing.”

Mick just waggles his eyebrows at the rest of his group and approaches the Dominator. The Dominator is easily distracted, and Mick isn’t much fazed by the alien throwing an unconscious soldier at him; he just lets loose with his heat gun. J’onn, having begun to rush forward to help anyway, is brought up short at the sight of the flames hitting the screaming Dominator. He flinches back, and Alex stops next to him, concerned. Mick manages to weaken the alien and Amaya runs forward, the spirit of a bear enveloping her. She lands a solid hit on the Dominator’s face, and it goes down like a sack of bricks.

“Hey!” snaps Mick. “I had that!”

She just grins, tossing her hair. “Yeah. I know.”

He returns the grin. The Dominator is still conscious, struggling to stand, and it looks up at J’onn in surprise.

“A Martian…” it hisses in its strange telepathic speech. “We had thought all Martians lost a thousand years ago…”

J’onn, already discomfited by the flames, now flinches hard, pained at the Dominator’s words, and Alex lays a concerned hand on his arm. Amaya punches the Dominator again, this time knocking it unconscious. They all advance carefully, looking down at the unconscious Dominator…

 

**Scene:** [Note: this scene follows directly from canon, and so no dialogue is included] Stein, now having moved onto a physical prototype, is still working hard. Lily is next to him, and in his distracted state he doesn’t realise that she’s talking to him, since she’s calling him Dad. She knows something’s up, but tries to push past it with a breezy air, asking for redactor clamps as she fiddles with her own prototype and tries to bring up happy family memories. It only unsettles Stein more, as he can’t remember any of it, and he ends up excusing himself. Caitlin comes in as he’s leaving, and shares a concerned look with Lily.

 

**Scene:[Note:** the start of this scene follows directly from canon, and so no dialogue is included until the point of divergence] In the hallway, Stein is trying to calm himself, but is finding it difficult. Caitlin follows him, trying some gentle teasing about taking ‘the absent-minded professor thing to a whole new level’. Stein just says he doesn’t know what she means and Caitlin shakes her head, explaining that ever since he came back, he’s been acting like Lily is a stranger or something. Stein cracks, pulling Caitlin away to somewhere more private, and admits that Lily _is_ a stranger to him. Confused, Caitlin asks what he means.

“Lily -” Stein stops, glancing through the window where Lily could be seen. “- that young woman...she didn’t exist before. She’s a time aberration.”

“She’s a _what?”_ exclaims Caitlin, albeit quietly, glancing with wide eyes at Lily. “How -?”

“On a previous mission I encouraged my younger self to be more attentive to Clarissa. This resulted in...Lily.”

“But - she’s your daughter -” says Caitlin, and Stein shakes his head sharply.

“She is a _time_ _aberration,_ ” he insists, but he’s strained. “And because of this...I...she can’t exist.”

“What -”

“She _can’t_ , Caitlin,” he says sharply, face creasing with pain. “I must restore the timeline, I - I must erase her, otherwise untold consequences may occur.”

Upset, he tries to leave, but Caitlin darts a hand out and stops him.

“But that’s not what you want!” Caitlin says, going after him and pulling him back.

“Of course it’s not what I want!” he bursts out. Pained, Stein goes back to the window, where they can see Lily working hard on her prototype. He begins to speak, weakly. “Even now, memories are coming back to me. I don’t…I don’t want to lose her…” He turns abruptly from the window, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses as Caitlin looks on, sympathetic. “It hasn’t always been easy to stay on the side of the right,” he continues, upset. “But it’s important to maintain sworn  principles! I know I’ve made mistakes in the past, with the Legends, trying to change history, and I thought - I thought that I’d learned that the timestream should stay as it _is,_ not how we’d like it to be. This is our _responsibility,_ something we swore to uphold. To cloud our judgment with personal calls – that would be to endanger the whole world. I _know_ this…”

“But it isn’t so easy, now, is it?” supplies Caitlin. “Not when she’s right there. Not when the memories are there.”

Stein nods, tears in his eyes. “I can’t lose her, Caitlin. And if I choose not to erase her, what does that say about me? About my will, about the strength of my convictions, about the promises I swear? Have I been wrong this whole time, dooming innocents to lives I could have corrected?”

“Professor,” interrupts Caitlin, moving forward and putting a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look at her. “I think it says something very important about you.”

Stein just scoffs, tears now heavy in his eyes. “And what is that?”

“That deep down you’re accepting the grey boundaries of life,” she says. “Things aren’t always clear-cut. They aren’t always simple. Sometimes, we need to accept that the ‘right thing’…isn’t always right. What are your instincts telling you?”

He looks out at Lily, longingly. “That she is my family,” he says. “And I would rather have her in my life than keep the timeline ticking. You’re right, Caitlin. God, you’re right. I - I _can’t_ stand by and willingly make her disappear. The others may disagree with me, but…this is what feels right.”

“Do you think you’ll stay on the ‘don’t change time’ side?” asks Caitlin, half smiling and happy at Stein’s new conviction.

“And risk making a hypocrite of myself?” replies Stein, shaking his head. “I’m in enough trouble as it is…”

 

**Scene:** Back in 1951, the team is staring down at the unconscious Dominator, getting ready to transport it back to the ship. A new voice rings out, congratulating them on their catch – it’s a man wearing glasses, dressed in a suit, and the group is quickly surrounded by a dozen men in similar suits, pointing guns at them. J’onn is immediately shot with tranquilisers numerous times, and he groans, collapsing. The rest of the team go for their weapons, but are also shot. The man with glasses says he’s glad he got two-for-one, and he’s looking forward to interrogating them…

The team don’t know this yet, but this man’s name is ‘Smith’.

 

**Scene:** Back on the Waverider, Felicity, Cisco and Winn are panicking, having overheard the altercation on the comms. Using combined knowledge of movies and logic, they deduce that the rest of their team will be taken to a secret facility somewhere and experimented on. Cisco immediately rallies them into going on a rescue mission, pulling out some of the weapons stash they find in the Waverider. Winn’s eyes go round.

“That gun is bigger than my _head,”_ he says, jaw dropping.

Cisco primes it, sci-fi precedent allowing everyone to instantly recognise the high pitched whine of a ready-to-fire future-weapon. “Set your phasers...to stun.”

 

**Scene:** In a nondescript room, the team have woken up and are moodily waiting for J’onn, who is still in Martian form and strapped to a table next to the captured Dominator, to regain consciousness. Amaya can’t use her powers since the tranquilisers did something to short them out, and the spooks confiscated Mick’s gun. The Dominator starts to move  and Amaya realises that it’s still alive and approaches. Alex realises this is an opportunity to try and get information from the Dominator – they already know that they’re coming for Earth and why, but they still don’t know anything about the weapon or even how many Dominators there are. Mick expresses doubt that Alex can get anything useful out of it, but she replies that she’s trained in multi-species interrogation and negotiation – just some of the neat modules they make you take when you’re training in the DEO. Alex approaches cautiously, but all it does it shriek and struggle to attack them.

 

**Scene:** Back on present-day Earth, Barry, Sara, Oliver, and Kara are waiting for the president.

“She’s late,” says Sara.

“She’s the president,” replies Oliver, and Sara rolls her eyes. With the silence broken, Barry starts a conversation with Kara.

“Uh, I never got to ask - what’s Oa?” he says.

“Oh, right” says Kara. “It’s the base for the Green Lantern Corps. They’re like...intergalactic space cops, basically.”

“Space...cops,” says Barry.

“Yeah,” she relies. “I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of them, they tend to spend all their time off-planet -”

Oliver interrupts. “Guys. Look sharp.”

Cars are pulling in, bearing the president’s flag. Unfortunately the president is not there – just a shady guy with glasses who immediately has men surround the heroes and point guns at them.

“Who are you?” asks Barry, and the man smiles.

“If I tell you…” he says, and he then turns serious. “I’ll have to kill you.”

 

**Scene:** Back in 1951, Alex is trying to interrogate the Dominator – where did they come from? How many of them are there? What weapons do they use? But she’s not having much luck. Abruptly the doors burst open and Agent Smith walks in, surrounded by men with large guns. He takes away the Dominator for torture, and just smiles at the others.

 

**Scene:** Back in the present day, the agent who pulled up in the president’s car is revealed to be the older version of Agent Smith, although of course the main crew still don’t know his name. Agent Smith is still smiling at the group.

“I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding,” says Oliver flatly.

“Oh no, no misunderstanding,” disagrees Agent Smith. “I always knew this day was coming - people like to blame Flash and Arrow for our current explosion of super-powered freaks, but this crazy crap has been going on for as long as there’ve been degenerates and weirdos. 

“What do you want?” says Flash.

“I want to save the world,” says Agent Smith. “The Dominators remembered me from an incident in 1951, and they’ve issued me with an ultimatum. Barry Allen - yes, I know who you are, I know who _all_ of you are - you will surrender yourself to the Dominators. In return, they will leave our planet alone.”

“What?!” snaps Sara. Oliver’s hands tighten on his bow and his expression shuts down, Kara steps closer to Barry, and Barry’s mouth dropped. “How on earth is the Flash surrendering himself going to save the day?!”

“Because the Dominators told me they hate metahumans just as much as the intelligent people in our government do,” replies the Agent, sneering. “They view Barry Allen as the perpetrator of our current situation. Without their leader, metahumans will slink away and stop endangering our world, and every other world in this galaxy!”

“There’s no way you can believe that,” says Kara. “The Dominators only want to divide our strength - make us fight each other. You’re playing right into their hands!”

“Are you really willing to take that risk?” says Agent Smith. He locks eyes with Barry. “ _Are_ you? After all the misery you’ve caused, can you really say that surrendering yourself _won’t_ save this world?”

“Don’t talk to him like that,” snaps Oliver, his bow ready. Everyone else squares up, Sara with her staffs, Kara clenching her hands, and Barry - while shaken - swallows hard. Agent Smith’s lip begins to curl with disgust.

“Do you really expect us to play along?” says Sara. Agent Smith just gives a nasty smile, waving his hands to his men.

“Of course, the Flash’s friends will be taken as insurance,” he says. “Just to make sure he heroically gives himself up.”

However, none of the government agents took account of Supergirl, who immediately flies up and starts using her heat vision to burn the guns out of their hands while Sara, Oliver, and Barry, dispatch of everyone.

“No!” shouts Agent Smith, now cowering before their combined might. “You don’t understand - the Dominators - they’ve told me - they see you as a threat, a future threat that needs to be pre-emptively taken care of - Flash, if you don’t surrender, the world _will be destroyed…”_

 

**Scene:** Back in 1951, the rest of the team are listening to the screams of the Dominator in the next room as it’s being tortured. Alex gets the others to try and help a still unconscious J’onn off of his table, since they know they have to escape, and soon. Suddenly, the sound of high-pitched shooting and injured yells fills the air and they pause, listening carefully. Cisco, Felicity, and Winn punt open the doors and pose triumphantly like Charlie’s Angels.

“Ho, yeah!” crows Felicity. “Y’all called for tech support?”

Everyone looks pleased, although Mick just rolls his eyes. Alex calls Winn over to help with the restraints on J’onn, and with some careful aiming J’onn is free. Mick wordlessly goes over and slings him over his shoulder as Cisco explains that the Waverider is ready to go. As they run out, the Dominator screams particularly loudly and they all pause, looking at each other. There’s some hesitance.

“Guys,” says Cisco, firmly. “We can’t just leave the Dominator behind to get tortured and killed - we need to send him home.”

“How?” asks Amaya.

“Don’t we have one of their ships on the Waverider?” asks Felicity.

“It’s broken,” says Mick.

“I’ve got some experience working with alien crafts,” says Winn.

“See?” says Cisco. “Problem solved. Winn’ll help me fix it. And Felicity.”

“I will? Oh…I…will. I will help.” Felicity nods enthusiastically.

At another scream from the Dominator, Cisco’s resolve hardens. “Guys. It’s up to us to show the Dominators that we’re better than this.”

 

**Scene:** Inside the torture room, Agent Smith is watching read-outs from a machine with interest as the Dominator is being tortured. The doors burst open and Alex and Amaya punch out both Agent Smith and a scientist lackey before they can make a move, and the duo go to pick the Dominator off the table. It struggles away, causing a mess, and managing to get outside the door, where the others are waiting with guns levelled at it.

“Hey, man,” says Cisco. “We’re gonna get you out of here, all right? But you need to be cool about it.”

The Dominator seems to settle down and accept this, and Cisco relaxes, pulling his gun away.

“I hope you learn from this,” he says. “Not all humans are bad, you know, and in the future you don’t need to attack us. That divide and conquer crap won’t work, so how about a friendly conversation, first, huh?”

The Dominator doesn’t answer, but it’s breathing seems to level out and the three techs glance at each other.

“Let’s go fix his ship,” says Winn and they all nod.

 

**Scene:** Back at the Waverider, the Dominator’s ship is outside, rising from the ground and quickly disappearing into the sky. Inside the Waverider Cisco is half-seriously pouting.

“He didn’t even say thank you….” Cisco sighs, turning away from the window, flipping a device in his hands. “Well, at least we managed to get some scans without him noticing…”

“Hey -” interrupts Felicity, swinging herself on the captain’s chair and lifting her chin at the device. “What’s that thing?”

“A communication device I lifted from the Dominator’s ship,” says Cisco casually - then he grins, ruining the effect. Felicity’s eyes widen.

“Oooh...now we can communicate with them when we get back,” Felicity says.

“Yep,” says Cisco. “And hey, maybe there’s no impending war waiting for us! We showed the Dominator mercy, maybe they’ll return the favour…”

Mick interrupts, raising his eyebrows at Felicity until she realises with a jolt that she’s sitting in his chair and she scampers off. He takes his seat and pulls down the belt.

“A’right, enough yapping, strap in,” he says. “Gideon, plot course back to 2016. I’m sick of 1951 already.”

The Waverider rises from the ground and takes off smoothly, heading back to 2016…

 

**Scene:** Back in present day, Agent Smith is still insisting that Barry give himself up.

“You have to - Mr Allen -” he says, and Kara interrupts him.

“He doesn’t _have_ to do anything,” she snaps. Agent Smith’s lips thin as he presses them together.

“I don’t blame you solely for the invasion, Mr Allen,” he tries. “Of course not. I blame _all_ of you. Every single so-called superhero who plays at heroics and doesn’t pay heed to the daily lives of people, or the bigger ramifications of their actions.”

“You can’t control the actions of every single person out there,” says Sara, narrowing her eyes.

“If you’re that eager to take on the responsibility of saving lives, you should have the guts to follow through with your convictions!” snaps out Agent Smith. Barry is clearly guilt-stricken, taking all the words straight to heart.

“We’re not interested in sacrifice plays,” Oliver says.

“Well, _something’s_ going to be sacrificed, one way or the other,” says Agent Smith. “And I have to wonder if you can live with the consequences of your irresponsibility…because a sacrifice _will_ have to be made…”

 

**Scene:** The Waverider appears in 2016 outside the hall in Central City, circling once before landing. Inside the Waverider, Felicity is unfortunately affected negatively by the time travel. Winn tries to comfort her, but finds his words mangled and he starts to panic. Cisco opens his mouth to say something, but the communication device he stole from the Dominator’s ship turns red and starts to make a strange high-pitched warbling noise. After a moment’s panic and confusion, they get it to work, and the same Dominator greets them.

“Years ago you saved my life,” says the Dominator, but before Cisco has a chance to be properly pleased, the Dominator continues. “However, this changes nothing.”

Cisco’s smile slowly falls off his face. “…what do you mean..? What does that mean?”

“We have marked your planet for our consumption,” it says. “With the emergence of metahumans, we found it necessary to retreat for a time and gather our strength. Now, with the discord caused on your planet by your own kind turning against those who would save them, we have our awaited opportunity.”

“No, but see, that’s not gonna work,” says Cisco, shaking his head in defiance. “We work _together_. I told you, that divide and conquer crap won’t work.”

“Yes - you said as much to me when we first met. This information was far more valuable than you realise...”

“What...what do you mean?” asks Cisco, frowning.

“Our methods are simple, but they take time to bring about,” replies the Dominator. “However, knowing that your heroes are not likely to fall victim to our usual techniques, we have had to resort to...other methods. With your leaders confused and distrustful of their heroes, we will strike much earlier than anticipated, deploying both our troops and a bomb that will wipe out your population in minutes.”

“But we _saved_ you!” snaps Cisco. “That’s gotta be worth something to you!”

“Yes. It is. I will spare your lives. I cannot do the same for your world,” replies the Dominator. “Thank you for saving me. In gratitude for this, I will ensure that your world will die quickly.”

The transmission cuts out, leaving behind Cisco’s horrified face.

 

**Scene:** Back inside the hall, everyone is gathered together, converging around the displays.

“It’s definitely a blind,” says Amaya. “They plant little seeds of discord and doubt in our own people, and then they rush in to finish us off when we’re distracted and divided.”

“It fits the profile we have of them in our world,” says J’onn. He’s in human form, standing upright, but leaning heavily against a table and looking a little shaken. Winn is standing next to him, taking diagnostics worriedly. “They enjoy the preceding chaos and despair as much as they do the eventual carnage.”

“They must have identified Barry from the intel they pulled during our kidnapping and figured he’d cause them the most trouble,” adds Sara. “They managed to convince the special agent that there was a bloodless way out, and hey presto, the agent does all their work for them.”

“So it’s still divide and conquer,” says Alex. “Just slightly altered. They were probably hoping Barry would sacrifice himself and the big players in our team would be captured.”

“Knowing Barry though, he’s actually thinking about that stupid ‘surrender himself’ plan,” says Cisco darkly. “Wait, where is he?”

“Thinking about the stupid ‘surrender himself’ plan,” says Sara. “Ollie’s talking him out of it now.”

Cisco’s eyes close with irritation. Ray pipes up. “So wait – they’ve got a bomb? What kind of devastation are we talking about here?”

“They said it would wipe out the world’s population in minutes,” answers Felicity. “Gotta assume they mean _our_ kind of minutes.”

“Can’t we negotiate, or something –?” says Winn.

“Yeah, tried that,” snaps Cisco. “Didn’t exactly go so well, remember?”

“We should try to contact them anyway,” Felicity says. “There has to be something we can do.”

“Then do it fast!” comes Digg’s voice, and he and Jax turn a corner, walking quickly towards the group. Jax goes to the set up and puts a world map on screen, showing red triangles on various parts of the map. “Dominator ships coming in worldwide, and fast.”

“But they’re not moving,” says Ray. “They’re just – sitting there.”

“For now,” says Digg, crossing his arms.

“They must be getting in position to deploy,” says Amaya. “They let loose the bomb, and their troops take care of the stragglers.”

“Or maybe it’s the other way around,” counters Digg. “They deploy troops to distract any defences we’ve got, and then release whatever doomsday device they’re holding.”

“If it’s something that can kill an entire world then we’re probably talking biological,” says Felicity. “Something designed to work against only humans.”

“Cisco, contact your Dominator,” says Sara. “Try everything you can. I’ll get onto Stein – maybe he’s come up with something viable that’ll save us.”

 

**Scene:** Winn, Felicity, and Cisco are in another part of the hall, unsuccessfully trying to use the device to contact the Dominator. Cisco realises that he can use the device to vibe into the mothership and contact the Dominator that way – although there is a chance that they’ll vibe into the vacuum of space instead. They take a chance, and it works – all three manage to vibe into the mothership, where they meet the Dominator.

“You need to call off this attack,” says Cisco, but the Dominator merely tilts its head.

“I cannot,” it replies. “We require the resources your planet will give us. Our world is dying, and without these resources, we will not survive.”

“There has to be another way,” says Cisco. _“We saved you.”_

“Yes,” the Dominator says. “And in doing so, you earned your lives - and no others. Your assistance all those years ago gave us the information we required to attack your heroes directly. With your figureheads gone, your world will fall.”

“No…” whispers Cisco.

“Worry not,” says the Dominator. “If anything, your actions spared your planet a long and painful demise. I have seen the same pattern on other worlds - meta-people emerge, and the people destroy themselves in hatred and fear. I would recommend your prepare yourself for the end...because the end _is_ coming... _soon.”_

The vibe ends, and they stare at each other, horrified.

“Well, screw him,” says Winn eventually, as Cisco stumbles away. “So much for being grateful. And what was that garbage about metahumans? People don’t destroy the world just because they have powers.”

“Except we do,” says Cisco, looking shaken. Felicity and Winn stare at him.

“No, Cisco,” says Felicity. “Come on. Sure, we screw up, but we keep trying –”

“And things just keep getting worse!” says Cisco, and Felicity closes her eyes briefly.

“This is about Barry, isn’t it,” she says, and Cisco turns away, putting a hand to his forehead.

“No – no,” he says. “It’s about me. _I_ screwed up. I told the Dominator we were onto its plan and that we couldn’t be divided, and now we’re facing down a biological weapon from a bunch of crazy aliens who specifically sent a vanguard to take out our powerhouses!”

“Dude, even if that is the case, they would have sent the bomb in anyway,” starts Winn, but Cisco cuts him off.

“Not necessarily!” he exclaims. “Didn’t you hear him earlier? They’re not using their ‘usual methods’ or whatever because I told them they wouldn’t work! They kidnapped the others, trawled their brains for info, set up a distraction trap with the agent to try and take out our powerhouses, and developed a bomb to take out everyone with human DNA!”

“Well...we don’t know _exactly_ if it’s that kind of bomb - I mean, it’s a pretty sound theory, but -” Felicity tries to interject, but Cisco cuts over her, totally distraught.

“And to top that off the Dominator said that they were attacking ‘much earlier than anticipated’. I just screwed us out of any extra time we had to prepare – to save this world. One little sentence, and I’ve messed up so, so bad. That Dominator wasn’t supposed to go back to the mothership – it wasn’t supposed to take back information to the rest of its people about Earth. The others weren’t supposed to get kidnapped at all...and the Earth wasn’t supposed to get threatened with a bomb.”

Felicity and Winn are visibly hit with understanding.

“We screwed up the present…” says Felicity.

“…by messing with the past…” finishes Winn, and Cisco just stares into space.

“This whole time I’ve spent being mad at Barry…” he says faintly. “Now I’m the one who messed with time…I just wanted to make things right. And I ended up making them so much worse…”

 

**Scene:** [Note: this scene follows exactly like canon, so no dialogue is included] Back at Star Labs, Lily is working on her project, with Caitlin sitting next to her and Stein working on something at the opposite end of the room. Apparently frustrated with herself and her project, Lily shoves everything away and stalks off. Caitlin and Stein watch her go, and Caitlin points out that Lily probably isn’t frustrated at her project, but at the way Stein’s been keeping her at arm’s length. Stein insists that the fate of the world is of far more importance and that’s what he needs to focus on, but Caitlin just gives him a knowing Look. He insists again that this is no time for family discussions, but she just says that it is if the world’s best chance at a workable solution is focused on getting her dad to love her.

 

**Scene:** [Note: This scene mostly follows exactly like canon, so no dialogue, barring the change of dialogue at the end of the scene, is included] Lily is leaning against a wall, clearly struggling with controlling her emotions. Stein calls out to her and she puts on a smile, apologising for stalking off. Stein apologizes as well, trying to assure her that he never meant to put her at arm’s length, he’s simply been so distracted lately with everything. Lily is still hurt, as she feels that her dad has always been able to talk to her about anything, especially mission related since they have so many similarities and interests. Stein says that life has just gotten very complicated lately. Lily says that he raised her to enjoy complexity – and while speaking, she makes a breakthrough in the project.

Lily exclaims: “The nanomolecular reaction keeps breaking down because the replication is sequential, not –”

Stein excitedly cuts in: “Exponential! The reaction requires greater complexity…”

In this moment, Stein looks at Lily with wonder, his fear and nervousness melting away. Lily just smiles awkwardly.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks, and he smiles gently.

“Because I feel that I am truly beginning to appreciate the fact that you are my daughter,” he replies, and before they can continue, his phone goes off. He looks at it quickly and blanches.

“What is it?” asks Lily.

“It’s Ms Lance,” replies Stein. “I’m afraid we’re out of time…”

 

**Scene:** Back in the hall, Barry is making an attempted final stand against the others, who’ve all gathered in an attempt to make him see sense. He’s trying to give himself up to the Dominators in the hopes that they really will back off.

“You can’t change my mind,” Barry says.

“Barry, come _on,”_ says Sara. “We’ve already established that the Dominators are just playing the agent for the _sole purpose_ of taking you off the playing board. It’s just a blind - we need you here.”

“I don’t care,” says Barry. “If there’s even a _chance_ that the Dominators will back off -”

“Barry,” interrupts Kara. “I know that guy said a lot of things that made you doubt yourself, but you can’t give in!”

“I screwed up,” says Barry. “I’m constantly screwing up. He was right - I don’t think about the consequences, and people -” He catches eyes with Cisco before looking away, ashamed. “People I care about get hurt. Who knows how many people I don’t even know were hurt because of Flashpoint?”

“Barry…” says Felicity, but Barry is already turning and walking away.

“If there’s a chance - _any_ chance that me doing this will help save people, then I’m doing it,” he says. “And you can’t stop me.”

“Barry,” calls Oliver. “Stop. I’m not going to let you leave.”

Barry just snorts.

“No offence, Oliver…but you and what army?” he says, turning around. But lined up are all of his friends, just raising their eyebrows at him.

“This one,” says Kara, and Felicity waggles her eyebrows at him.

“Listen Red,” says Mick. “I don’t like you. But when you’ve got a crew…you don’t take a hit for the rest.”

Everyone’s in agreement – Barry’s not going.

“Maybe as heroes, we do more harm than good,” says Oliver. “But honestly? I don’t think a single person here truly believes that, not really.”

“And anyway,” adds Sara, grinning. “Isn’t this a perfect chance to find out?”

Cisco steps forward.

“I’m not letting you sacrifice yourself, Barry,” he says. “No way. I don’t care if that’s what it means to be a hero – you’re not a hero to me. You’re my friend.”

Barry, taken aback, just looks at Cisco, too emotional to speak.

“Guys -” Jax says abruptly. “I hate to break up the moment, but - the ship in Central City? It’s opened up…”

 

**Scene:** A computer screen lights up with multiple red triangles – Dominator ships, deploying troops, all over the world. Felicity and Winn are manning the stations, while the others are dispersed on a rooftop, waiting for incoming Dominators.

“Oh boy,” says Felicity, pulling up reams of data, fingers flying across the keyboard. “They’re _everywhere!_ I mean, at least _we’ve_ got superheroes - what are other places supposed to do?”

 

**Scene:** On the rooftop, Oliver puts a hand to his ear. “They’ll be fine,” he says. “It’s not like we’re the only vigilantes that exist.”

Barry distractedly huffs a laugh, worried eyes on the sky. “Yeah – they’d better not set foot in Gotham. There’s an urban legend there that’d knock their socks off – uh, if they had socks.”

“The faster this gets done, the more people we can save,” says Oliver. “Everybody - get in position.”

 

**Scene:** Back in the HQ, Felicity, Winn, and Jax (he’s waiting for Stein, who was already en route to the hall when the Dominator ships started arriving) all jump when alarms from the computer start to go off.

“Uh, guys?!” Winn, panicked, turns to Felicity and Jax, a very ominous flashing signal on his screen. “Big problem. Big, _big_ problem. They just dropped the bomb.”

 

**Scene:** Sara and Cisco in the Waverider, however, are ready for it, already on their way to stop the bomb’s flight.

 

**Scene:** Back in HQ, Stein rushes in.

“Jax! Where are the others?” he exclaims.

“Oh - Professor!” Felicity exclaims. “ _Please_ tell us you have the nanotech diffuser!”

He brandishes a circular device about the size of his palm. “Just finished it!” he says. “I rushed over. Once activated, it will inject a Dominator with nano-tech specially designed to target the pain centre of the Dominator brains, and which would also attack the nanotech that the Dominators developed to give themselves telepathy.”

“So, once it’s triggered, it’ll cause a chain reaction amongst all the Dominators and force them to leave!” exclaims Winn.

“Indeed!” confirms Stein. “Where’s Mr. Ramon?”

“Uh, with Sara - they’re going to stop the bomb. Why?” asks Felicity, and Stein’s face falls.

“Because...the device is based off of the vibrations created by the Earth, so the Dominators will never be able to come back to Earth again,” says Stein, slowly, growing more worried. “The device was built with Mr Ramon’s vibing powers in mind to activate it.”

Felicity immediately goes to her comms. “Uh, guys, did you hear that?”

 

**Scene:** Back on the Waverider, Sara grimaces and swears, going to turn the Waverider around -  but then, in the comms, J’onn tells them to stop.

 

**Scene:** On the rooftop, J’onn - in human form - is staring up into the sky at the Dominator ships with a fierce look in his eye. Kara and Alex make a half a step forward, concerned.

“J’onn…” says Alex quietly.

“I can do it,” J’onn says, heavily. “I can insert the device into a Dominator and activate it telepathically.”

“You don’t have to do that,” says Oliver. “I know you said -”

Oliver stops speaking as J’onn shapeshifts, turning into his Martian form and setting his shoulders back.

“I know what I said,” J’onn says. “And I meant it. Telepathy should _never_ be used offensively - but this is a war. If I had been given the chance to use such a weapon against my captors in order to protect my people, I would have. I will not stand by while a war-mongering, murdering species destroys yet another world. Give me the device. I will activate it.”

 

**Scene:** Back in HQ, Jax claps Stein on the shoulder.

“Better get to that rooftop, Firestorm,” he says. “We’ve got a job to do.”

Stein nods, seriously, and they form Firestorm and quickly fly away.

 

**Scene:** The Waverider approaches the bomb. Both Cisco and Sara are disconcerted by the sheer size of it.

 

**Scene:** On a rooftop in Central City, the heroes get ready to fight the Dominators, who are now beginning to swarm the rooftop. Firestorm lands next to J’onn, who jolts a little at the sight of the fiery metahuman, but accepts the device without comment. Both groups face off for a moment before charging at each other. Blasts of fire, bullets, and heat vision lasers fly through the air, while lighting streaks in and out of the Dominators. We see each of the heroes fight in turn – Amaya, calling on an elephant spirit, trampling a dozen at once – Kara, flying through the air and deploying her heat vision – Digg and Alex, back to back and fearlessly shooting – Barry streaking through the crowd, watching his teammates’ backs – Ray flying about, shooting at Dominators, momentarily consternated when his hand repulsors don’t work properly and he has to land when he jolts in the air, fighting Dominators hand to hand – Firestorm delivering bursts of flame from the air to knock over enemies – Oliver and Mick, temporarily back to back as Mick lets loose with his gun and Oliver fires arrow after arrow before ducking the assault of a Dominator and using the movement against his attacker to put the alien in a chokehold.

“J’onn!” roars Oliver once he’s got a Dominator in his grip, and J’onn darts forward, ready to stab the trapped Dominator with the device – when suddenly he’s mobbed with the aliens, who have identified him as a clear threat.

 

**Scene:** Back on the Waverider, Cisco and Sara figure out to use the tractor beam. It barely slows down the bomb. They call for Firestorm’s help.

 

**Scene:** Back on the battlefield, Firestorm receives their message and shoots off into the sky. Within the battle, everyone is trying their hardest, but more and more Dominators seem to be arriving. They yell for J’onn, who is currently buried under writhing Dominators, device still in his immobile hand. Oliver knocks out the struggling enemy that he was still holding in a chokehold and goes to help, but is kept at bay. He ends up being knocked off the building, only to have Kara rescue him.

 

**Scene:** Felicity is on comms, noting that the number of Dominators are increasing across the country and world, and she thinks that they should at least try to help others while J’onn is trying to inject the device – speaking of which, why hasn’t that happened yet??

 

**Scene:** Oliver goes on comms and asks Barry and Kara to lend a hand across the cities, just for the next few minutes while they arrange for J’onn to inject and activate the device. They agree and speed off (Felicity manages to accidentally insult Barry by saying her line “This looks like a job for Supergirl~~”), and Oliver goes to help J’onn.

 

**Scene:** Meanwhile on the Waverider, the ship is struggling with the weight of the bomb. Firestorm arrives to help, and starts trying to transmute the bomb.

 

**Scene:** Kara and Barry zip across multiple cities, toppling and distracting Dominators – we see signs saying Coast City, Hub City, Metropolis – Barry dashes past a sign that says Gotham City – Kara’s flying and hears Barry exclaim over the comms.

“Yikes! Oh – _oh_ man, oh jeez –”

“Barry?!” she exclaims, concerned. “Are you okay??”

“Yeah – yeah – I’m fine – just – not an urban legend! Not an urban legend!!!”

“What??”

“Nevermind! We’re good. Yeesh, there were like a dozen sidekicks or something! Okay, okay, we’re good!”

She just shakes her head and keeps flying.

 

**Scene:** Felicity and Winn, back at HQ, are watching Kara and Barry’s progress, as well as the battle on the rooftop, and the trajectory of the bomb, trying to keep track of everything.

“Ok, guys – how are we doing on that bomb?” says Felicity.

“Yeah – its, kinda getting close!” says Winn, watching the numbers fall on his screen. “If it drops from this height we’re doomed whether it’s active or not!”

 

**Scene:** Back on the Waverider, Sara answers through gritted teeth. “Working on it!” she bites out. “Firestorm! Put your back into it!”

 

**Scene:** On the bomb outside, Firestorm is struggling – he doubts he can do it, given the size of the bomb…

 

**Scene:** On the rooftop, Amaya and Ray brutally toss Dominators off of J’onn, who gasps for air and ruthlessly grabs the nearest Dominator. As the others defend him, he stabs the enemy alien with the device and digs his fingers into its temple, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. The effect is immediate – the Dominator immediately starts to scream, and J’onn throws it away, hoarsely screaming himself. Dominators drop their weapons as they clutch their heads, falling to the ground with agony. Alex goes to J’onn, but he’s shaking his head.

“No – no, it’s fine,” he says. “Just some backlash. Their minds are truly…truly terrible places.”

Oliver goes to his comms. “It’s done. The Dominators are down.”

 

**Scene:** Back in the HQ, Felicity and Winn high-five, but then pause.

“Okay…wait,” says Winn.

“What about the bomb?” finishes Felicity, and they both look anxiously at their screen.

 

**Scene:** Back on the bomb, Jax is still struggling with self-doubt.

“I don’t know if I can do it!” he says.

“Jefferson - you must,” says Stein. “I - I have a daughter. Her name is Lily, and she’s depending on both of us to save the day -”

Jax yelps out loud. “Wait - Grey, you have a _daughter?!”_

On the comms, we hear Sara’s voice: “What?!”

 

**Scene:** On the Waverider, Sara is staring incredulously at nothing.

“A _daughter?”_ she exclaims. Cisco is looking at her warily.

“Uh...yeah?” he says. “Lily? You don’t know her?”

Sara just turns to stare at him in disbelief. “A - _daughter?”_ she repeats.

 

**Scene:** On the battlefield, the Legends are looking at one another, pausing for just a split second within the fray of battle.

“Whoa,” says Ray. “He’s got a daughter?”

“Wait...were we supposed to know that already?” asks Mick.

“Uh - guys?” says Digg. “He’s always had a daughter?”

“Focus!” snarls Oliver, and they get back to fighting.

 

**Scene:** Back with Firestorm, Jax is incredulous.

“You have a daughter?!” he exclaims. “You _definitely_ didn’t have a daughter before! She’s an aberration?!”

“Yes - but Jefferson, it doesn’t matter!” says Stein. “She exists! And she’s counting on us! Please - Jefferson, push yourself! Transmute!”

Jax grits his teeth. With this final push, Firestorm manages to transmute the bomb, turning it into harmless water.

 

**Scene:** Inside the Waverider, Cisco and Sara sit back in their chairs, breathless with relief. Sara contacts the team on the rooftop, telling them the bomb is taken care of, and she asks for their status.

 

**Scene:** We see the Dominators scurrying away, shrieking as they’re being transported back into their mothership, all running away. “They’re retreating!” Ray exclaims.

 

**Scene:** We see Felicity and Winn at their screen, watching the red triangles disappearing quickly. “It’s not just them…” says Felicity. “It’s all around the world…”

 

**Scene:** We see glimpses of the other cities where the same thing is happening – in Metropolis, in Hub, in Coast, and in Gotham, just as the last few Dominators disappears, a shadow, long and with tall pointed tips on the top of it, detaches from the wall and moves away…

 

**Scene:** The Waverider hovers in the air, as all around them, Dominator ships fly away and disappear…

 

**Scene:** Back on the rooftop, the team are standing triumphantly, ruffled and out of breath, but grinning with victory.

“You did it,” says Oliver.

“No, Oliver,” says Kara.

“We all did it,” finishes Barry, and everyone looks up to the sky as the last Dominator ship twinkles out of sky…

 

**Scene:** [Note: aside from a small change of dialogue included below, this scene is exactly like canon and so no dialogue is included] Back at the HQ, there is a small gathering, with the President honouring those who responded to the alien threat. As she’s giving her speech Mick and Sara agree that the President is hot. Sara catches Alex side-eyeing the President too and leans over, murmuring: “Don’t worry. You’re hot, too.” And she winks at Alex, who just goes extremely, extremely wide-eyed. The President finishes her speech by saying that powered or not, masked or not, each of them are heroes in her eyes. She gets a standing ovation.

 

**Scene:** The team are celebrating with champagne and music afterwards, enjoying their well-deserved party. Sara pulls away a few others with the promise of ‘real’ alcohol, and Barry and Oliver clink glasses. Kara smiles at Felicity and Ray before excusing herself, and they marvel at her for separate reasons (Ray thinks she looks like his cousin, and Felicity thinks they’re twins because of blonde hair and glasses). Kara jumps over to Barry and Oliver (their conversation and connection follows the same – Oliver apologises for trying to exclude her, he just has control issues and deep down doesn’t really know how useful he’ll be overall if things just keep getting crazier like this. Kara puts a hand on his shoulder and says that superpowers don’t make the superhero – she’s learned that the hard way). There’s an emotional connection between all of them, and Oliver capitulates with a smile to the group hug peer pressure Barry and Kara exert. Cisco walks over, grinning, followed by J’onn.

“Hey, hate to break it up, guys,” he says, obviously not sorry. “But I was just talking to J’onn, and I want you to have this.”

He hands her a little black box with a device in it. It’s a device for contacting Earth-1 if she ever needs it – even just to visit. She’s delighted. Cisco’s explaining the communication functionality as Mick walks past and he interjects as he’s walking. “Hey – Skirt. Call me.”

They stare after him. Barry and Oliver rejoin the conversation, with Barry getting it back on track.

“Hey – that’s not a bad idea,” says Barry. “Who knows – the world’s getting crazier, right? We’ll probably team up again. We should definitely make it more accessible for us to meet up.”

“What are you suggesting?” says Oliver, and Barry thinks about it for a second.

“Well…” he says. “I mean, we started out just a few of us. Now we’ve got aliens, and time ships, and – uh, whatever you deal with, Oliver –”

“Ninjas,” says Oliver, wearily. He just slightly shakes his head at Kara’s amazement. “Long story. You were saying, Barry?”

“I was just thinking…” says Barry, shrugging his shoulders. “Given the kind of things we might face in the future, I think some kind of official team would be…well, justified.”

J’onn tilts his head. “An interesting proposition…and one I agree with.”

Kara smiles, wide and bright as a million watts, waving the black box gently. “And you know where to find us.”

 

**Scene:** Stein is sitting on his own in one of the rows of seats. Jax comes over and gets the whole story about Lily from him. Stein reiterates that he doesn’t want Lily to be erased - she's real, he's been getting memories of her, and he loves her so, so much. Jax asks if Stein is still of the opinion that aberrations need to be avoided, and Stein says that Caitlin asked him the same question. Having come face to face with the moral greyness of his current situation, it no longer feels right to him to dictate the right to live or die, to change or not to change, when it comes to aberrations. If changing something means that an innocent will live, then isn’t _that_ the right thing to do? He wants to save people, not condemn them. Jax doesn’t have an answer to that. But after a moment he says that if Stein wants to remember Lily properly, he should ask Gideon, as she probably knows a way to unlock the rest of memories. Stein is touched by this thought, and the silence afterwards is easier.

 

**Scene:** Agent Smith shows up with a bunch of underlings and begins to make vague threats. Some of the heroes get upset and angry, but Digg just snorts.

“Man, I’ve looked Amanda Waller in the eye without flinching,” he says. “Are you supposed to intimidate _us?”_

“You’d be wise not to cross me, Mr Diggle,” Agent Smith warns. “That’s right. I know your name. I know _all_ your names –”

“Do you know my name?” says a new voice. The agent turns to see Lyla, decked out in a killer suit. The agent goes completely white as Lyla gives him a slow, measured smile, and walks forward slowly.

“I think you know who I am,” she says. “Which is a problem for you, since knowing who _I_ am is above your pay grade. You know what else is above your pay grade?” She leans in very close – the agent looks like he’s about to wet himself. “Taking the President’s car for a joyride.”

Lyla leans back, crossing her arms as her own agents place him under arrest. “Take him away.”

As they do so, Agent Smith puts up a fruitless protest and the heroes all look delighted. Digg and Lyla share their own smile, and she tosses him a wink, and says “Thanks for the heads up, Johnny.”, before going to oversee the arrest. Kara exclaims, “Wow! That’s way cooler! When I was talking to your President earlier, I just asked her to reassign him to Antarctica!”

 

**Scene:** [Note: this scene follows pretty much exactly like canon, so no dialogue is included] Kara, J’onn, Alex, and Winn say their goodbyes to everyone. Cisco’s device works perfectly and they disappear back into their own world. Oliver and Sara share a moment reminiscing about how everything really started with the two of them. She asks if he’s ever thought about what it would have been like, not getting on that boat. Oliver points out that the Dominators showed them what that world would have been like, and that in a way it was a gift, even if it was a prison. They share a hug, and she and the rest of the Legends say their goodbyes and leave. Digg, Oliver and Barry watch them go, Digg commenting on the weirdness of it all. Oliver points out that normal sort of went out the window when Barry arrived. Digg offers Barry a handshake, saying he respects him even if he doesn’t understand him. Barry asks for forgiveness about Flashpoint and Baby Sara, and Digg says that Barry needs to forgive himself first. He leaves Oliver and Barry alone, and Barry says they should do this more often, not just when the world is being threatened. Oliver says that if the world wasn’t threatened…what would they do?

 

**Scene:** Barry and Oliver are at a bar, drinking a beer and relaxing. They share a bit of banter and conversation, both of them accepting that normal isn’t really what they want anymore, because their lives, for all their difficulties, were pretty cool as they were now. Normal life would have been happy…but not full. They toast to this, smiling.

 

**END CREDITS**


	2. Chapter 2

See on Tumblr[ here](http://kickingshoes.tumblr.com/post/165183967582/art-for-the-seventh-lotrewrite-written-by)

 

Kickingshoes' tarot card for Episode 7 - they've created a full set of Major Arcana based on the episodes! See more of their art [here!](http://kickingshoes.tumblr.com/)

 


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